HC Deb 16 March 2004 vol 419 c264W
Mrs. Iris Robinson

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many nursing vacancies there are in North and West Belfast Trust. [157384]

Angela Smith

I refer the hon. Lady to the answer I gave on 23 February 2004,Official Report, column 166W.

Mrs. Iris Robinson

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many nurses from North and West. Belfast Health Trust(a) were forced to retire on account of age within the last year and (b) have been informed that they will have to retire because they are 65-years-old. [157385]

Angela Smith

The information is as follows.

  1. (a) None
  2. (b) Three Bank Nurses in the Trust were advised that they would be required to retire at the age of 65 years in accordance with the express term in their contracts of employment.

However, all three staff have subsequently had their employment contracts extended to enable the Trust to develop a Trust-wide policy to address the issue of staff working beyond 65 years.